Busch takes inaugural truck race at Chicagoland

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/29/2009 - Joliet, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Busch made a late-race pass on Todd Bodine for the lead and then held off Bodine on a restart with seven laps to go to win Friday's inaugural EnjoyIllinois.com 225 Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Busch recorded his fourth victory of the season and the 13th of his Truck Series career. He won last week's race at Bristol, snapping Ron Hornaday Jr.'s five-race winning streak.

"[Crew chief] Richie [Wauters] made a good pit call there in the beginning of the race to take tires when we did," said Busch, who led a race-high 79 laps. "Luckily, we had that long green-flag run, and we cased it. We made it look like we knew what we were doing, and that long run, it just hurt everybody else."

Busch and Wauters are now two-for-two in wins since the duo were reunited at the No.51 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota team prior to Bristol. Wauters guided Busch to three victories in the series in 2008. Doug George had served as his crew chief before moving over to Ballew's No.15 team.

"Kyle is a heck of a race car driver, and when he gets to the front, I don't think anyone is going to get around him unless he's a little bit worse," Wauters said.

Busch has now won three of the last four races in which he's competed, as he captured the victory in both the Truck and Sprint Cup events at Bristol. He will try to improve on that record Sunday when he runs in the Nationwide Series race at Montreal.

The 24-year-old driver has now recorded victories in all three of NASCAR's national touring series at five different tracks. Busch won the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races at Chicagoland last year.

Bodine settled for a second-place finish.

"On the second-to-last restart, I just got too good of a restart, and this place is so much like Daytona and Talladega where drafting is so important," said Bodine, who relinquished the lead to Busch with 19 laps remaining. "He got a good draft and passed me. I guess it's my fault."

Colin Braun finished third, followed by Rick Crawford and Johnny Sauter.

Dennis Setzer, Chad McCumbee, Aric Almirola, Timothy Peters and Terry Cook completed the top-10.

Hornaday had a disappointing night with an 11th-place finish, his worst result since the first weekend in June at Texas, where he placed 19th. Hornaday fell one lap behind but managed to get back on the lead lap during the seventh and final caution.

Matt Crafton, the pole sitter, finished a lap down in 14th.

Hornaday slightly increased his lead over Crafton to 220 points with nine races remaining in the season.

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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on college football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.

Terrell Owens could return for Cowboys next game
A bye week will allow Terrell Owens broken hand to recover just in time for the next game the Dallas Cowboys are slated to play, according to reports. MySportsbook.com, an football sportsbook, has posted football betting lines on TO playing.

Owens broke the bone leading to his right ring finger Sunday night and had a plate surgically attached to it Monday. Although Owens' hand was swollen and aching Wednesday, Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said he's optimistic the receiver will be back at work next week and catching passes a week from Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.

MySportsbook.com online sportsbook listed Terrell Owens with odds of 7-2 (or $7 paid out for every $2 bet) to return back for the game against Tennessee.

"I certainly wouldn't rule it out now," Parcells said, referring to Terrell Owens immediate return. "Maybe five days from now I might, but I wouldn't rule it out now. ... I know we're looking to try to get him moving around pretty good in the next day or so. So we'll see where we are."

Owens did not speak with reporters Wednesday, but said Sunday he'd be out two to four weeks. A return against the Titans would be 13 days after the surgery. The Cowboys were listed as an early -7 1/2 favorite vs. the Tennessee Titans for Week 4 at MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Mastercard needs.